Quivira Park Bike Group Ride 18 - September 11, 2010 LifeTrek.Eroe.com

For the Quivira Park Bike Group Ride 18 we rode the Lake Lenexa Route, which is a 38.7 mile course that includes the famous "Oh My Ogg Hill".  The weather was in the low 70's at the start and low 80's at the end of the ride with a fairly brisk wind from the northwest of about 8-10 MPH.  Humidity was in the mid-range so a very nice morning.

We had 18 riders and not pictured to the left is Joe who had to cut out early before the SAG stop at the Charles J. Stump Park, which is our usual SAG for this route.  The picture was taken at the children's playground at the park.  Notice the dinosaur!

Rob, our resident bicycle photographer and the Chief Photographer with KCTV-5 and KSMO-62 here in Kansas City, took a number of great pictures.  This one is of the group leaving Quivira Park.  Unfortunately a number of times we got so spread out we kept some of the faster riders waiting.  One wait was when Dan, a new rider, and I thought there were still some riders behind us before we made the turn onto College Road and so we backtracked only to find them at the Black Hoof Park, at Lake Lenexa one of our meet-up spots.

We also had a slight delay because Marshall had a flat soon after we started down 127th Street so we stopped at the Johnson County Library on Black Bob Road to change it out.  Thanks to the Quivira Park Bike Group Pit Crew we had him up and rolling again in about 15 minutes.  Joe also got to use his first CO2 cartridge!  I don't want to talk about how many I have used with all my flats this year.  Fortunately the new tires with Kevlar are working great!

This picture shows us going up Ogg Road on the "Oh My Ogg Hill".  It is hard to tell from this picture but the hill has about a 14 degrees rate of climb at this point and then keeps going up after the road turns to the right.  Lots of fun if you like hills!

The last picture shows Dan and Chris exhausted after the long climb up Ogg.  A map of the entire route can be uploaded from my Garmin and it includes the distance to and from my house.  Total distance was 72.09 kilometers and average speed was 23.6 KPH for my ride.

Quivira Park Bike Group Ride 17 - September 4, 2010 LifeTrek.Eroe.com

The Quivira Park Bike Group Ride 17 took the new Cleveland Route today.  It was an absolute gorgeous day with temperatures in the mid 50's at the start and low 70's at the end.  Best of all was there was very low humidity and zero wind - yes, zero wind!  Hard to believe in Kansas where it seems to be windy all the time.  This was probably the best day I have ever had cycling in Kansas and I heard the same from many of the riders.  Just a picture perfect day!

The Group in Cleveland, Missouri

This photograph was taken at the SAG stop in Cleveland, Missouri.  For more information on Cleveland see my blog post Cleveland Mapping Ride from August 19, 2010.


One of our riders, Tim, and his wife recently had a baby girl so his father, Brian (pictured in center with red and white shirt on) was visiting with his wife and so he joined us for the ride.  It turns out that Brian who is turning 60 put us all to shame as he is a super triathlete who has done triathlons in all 50 states and will be working during his 60th year by doing triathlons around the world.  He was pushing even our faster riders, who I know are 30 or more years younger, with speeds approaching 40 KPH on some of the flats.

Peloton in Missouri

We are fortunate to have Rob, who is the Chief Photographer with KCTV-5 and KSMO-62 here in Kansas City, as one of our group riders.   He took the next three shots from his handy camera by shooting while riding.  Notice the beautiful blue sky in the first two pictures.


A map of the ride is available from my Garmin.  My total mileage was 100 kilometers, which included a warm up ride and some extra kilometers after the ride to get to a Metric Century!  My speed was close to 26 KPH but I was actually one of the slower riders so the temperature and lack of wind really added to the speed.

Peloton in Missouri

Rob and Ed

Gringos Ride and More - August 23, 2010 LifeTrek.Eroe.com

Rob, Ed, and Steve

Steve and I rode from our neighborhood over to the Gringos Ride that leaves from 135th and Clairborne, just east of I-35 at the Santa Fe exit, in Olathe, Kansas every Monday night at 6:30pm.  Connie Connor organizes the ride, which like the Quivira Park Bike Group, is associated and listed on the calendar of the Johnson County Bicycle Club.  The picture to the left was taken at the Johnson County Fire and Rescue Station #3 which is at 19065 South Lackman Road at the corner of Lackman and 191st Streets.  This is the official SAG stop.

Ed and Steve

The ride follows the same route each week but has three options for short, medium, or a longer distances.  There is usually a pretty fast group which I have kept up with in past participation at least part of the way.  Today Rob went out with fast group and Steve and I stayed back with the more medium group.  We went the full distance but Steve and I cut off at the corner of 143rd and Lindenwood Drive to head back home and Rob went back to the start where his car was parked.

Rob, who is the Chief Photographer with KCTV-5 and KSMO-62 here in Kansas City, took the next three shots from his iPhone while were were heading back up Lindenwood.  Being a photographer he does a great job at getting action shots while riding which is not something I have mastered nor do I think want to try!

Steve

Steve does a lot of biking in the area and knows a lot of good side street alternatives to some of the busier roads.  I call him the Suburban Road King as every time I ride with him I find a new easier less traveled cut through.  On the map from my Garmin you can see some of the nice residential streets he takes.

Total distance for the ride was just over 58K at an average speed of just under 25 KMH.  There was a slight wind from the southeast but we hardly ever noticed it.  Temperatures were in the 90's and humidity around 50%.   We had to ride after sunset just before 8:00pm CDT but Steve has this DiNotte Tail Light on his bike that is absolutely blinding!  Since putting it on he says that cars really notice him.  I ride with headlight, and tail lights on my bike and helmet.

Steve

This picture is a great sunset shot by Rob of Steve.

Quivira Park Bike Group Ride 15 - August 21, 2010 LifeTrek.Eroe.com

A very nice ride this morning on the Quivira Park Bike Group's Kill Creek Park Route.  We had 13 riders and were quite fortunate as there was a series of thunderstorms and heavy rain starting Friday afternoon that did not end until late Friday night.  In some areas in the Kansas City metro area there was 2 1/2 to 3 inches of rain with several small stream flood warnings.  The streets were a bit wet at the beginning of the ride and except for some branches down we did not notice much of the impact of the storms.  We needed the rain since it has been so dry and hot but not in such a bolus amount.

We had a new rider, Tim who is a fellow Michigan State University Spartan, that helped push our fast group even faster as they averaged 20 MPH and with the humidity, which was around 95% during the ride, I took up with the slower group going around 15 MPH on average.  Temperatures were only in the mid 70's at the start and mid 80's at the end with only a 2-3 MPH breeze from the northwest.   The humidity was the factor for me, however.  In fact it was a six water bottle day for me and required an extra stop on the way back for ice water on 119th Street before we turned on Renner Road.  Pictured to the left from left to right are Ed, Griffin, Randy, Jim, Carlo, Greg, Joe, Bob, Marshall, Garrett, and Tim.

Ron, pictured to the left, did not have the time to do the whole route with us from Quivira Park, so he turned around at 151st Street and Gardner Road.  A map of the ride from my house can be uploaded from my Garmin.  Total distance was just under 78K and average speed was just under 25 KPH for me which includes a slow warm-up ride.

I am proud to report that with the four rides I did this week, it is the first time that I have completed 328 kilometers, or 204 miles, in one week!

Cleveland Route Mapping Ride - August 19, 2010

195th Street View in Missouri

With the help of my Kansas Cyclist Podcast Partner, Randy Rasa, I mapped out a new route for the Quivira Park Bike Group down to Cleveland, Missouri.  Cleveland is a small town of just under 600 people located in Cass County.  The county was organized in 1835 and was first named Van Buren County but was later changed to Cass after Lewis Cass, a U.S. Senator from Michigan in 1849.  I could not find out much history of Cleveland from the official Cass County Website and even when checking their website and calling the Case County Historical Society.  They had some books but nothing on-line.  Randy and I did have the opportunity to speak to the town police officer at our SAG stop at a convenience store in Cleveland and he turns out to be a cyclist too!  Randy provided him his card from the Kansas Cyclist as the officer was interested in bicycle trails in the area.

Randy & Ed - Cleveland SAG Stop

We had a beautiful late afternoon for a ride with temperatures in the low 90's, humidity in the 50 percent range, and about a 8-10 MPH wind from the south.  I ran both my Garmin devices so that I could capture the entire ride from my house and the new Cleveland Route on the other.  The route goes from Quivira Park south on Quivira Street to 175th Street then over to Antioch south to 191st Street.  Below 179th Street Antioch has a nice 14 degree hill that has just been paved.  It is only as third as long as Ogg Hill on the Lake Lenexa Route, but the same degree of angle.  I have named the hill the "Antiache Hill" and it was actually much harder before being re-paved!

Randy - Corner of 195th & Prospect

The route covers some scenic rural Kansas and Missouri country side and is 55.05 miles long.  There are some nice rolling hills on State Highway Y in Missouri but for the most part is fairly flat.  From Cleveland the route works across 247th Street to Metcalf Road to 199th Street where there is another convenience store if needed in Stillwell.  The route gets back to Quivira Park by eventually getting to Pflumm from 191st via Antioch.  From Pflumm the route follows some of the other Quivira Park Bike Group routes by using 137th to Rosehill, to 133rd back to Quivira.

A map of my total ride from my house can be viewed from my Garmin.  Total distance was just under 93K and the average speed was just under 24 KPH.  As noted above, the new route from Quivira Park is at this link - Cleveland Route.

Wednesday Morning Group Ride to Cedar Creek - August 18, 2010 LifeTrek.Eroe.com

I joined the Wednesday Morning Group Ride that leaves from BikeSource today.  It was cloudy but with delightful temperatures in the low 70's and hardly any wind.  There was a large turnout with many new riders which is always nice.  Jake, one of the regular riders pictured to the left with me, forgot his bike shoes so Bob, another rider, and I waited for him to drive home and then we booked to meet the group at the SAG stop in Lenexa once Jake was back.

Ron, as always, leads a good ride and begins each ride with a safety tip.  Today it was about obeying traffic laws and was especially relevant since we had a Kansas City Police Officer ride with us today.  Great guy and a very good rider.  Our ride went out to Cedar Creek, which is a beautiful planned community in Olathe, Kansas, which is a large area west and southwest of the Kansas City Metro Area.  There are some great hills and the Quivira Park Bike Group has a route called the Lake Lenexa Route that covers some of the same roads.  One of the riders had a flat but with help was back up and rolling in about 10 minutes.  The picture of the group was at the corner of Woodland Street and Northgate in Olathe during the flat repair.

When getting ready for the ride this morning one of our neighbor's daughter's was standing with her nanny and her younger sister and brother.  Morgan was upset because this was the first day of school and the bus forgot to pick her up.  I too had witnessed the bus not turning on our street and then not even stopping at the corner when she went running towards it.  Her nanny was concerned because she had the younger children and they were still in their pajamas so I volunteered to walk Morgan to school.  We had a delightful conversation about her new 1st grade teacher, her soccer team, how her sister and brother love piggy back rides from her, and that she was excited about school.  Since the bus had been late we were a bit tardy in getting to school, as several parents walking back from the school reminded us.  In any event, Morgan got to school safe and sound and only 5 minutes late.  Picture of Morgan and me is to the left.

A map of the ride can be viewed from my Garmin and the route starts at the Oak Hill Elementary School down to the start at BikeSource and back to my house.  Total distance was 52K and average speed was 24.3 KPH.

Sunflowers to Roses Bike Tour - August 15, 2010 LifeTrek.Eroe.com

I participated in the Sunflowers to Roses Bike Tour today with the Quivira Park Bike Group as we put a team together for the ride.  This is the 8th annual event and it is a fundraiser for the LIVESTRONG Foundation, Cancer Action, and the University of Kansas Cancer Center.  Our team included Carlo, Chris, Greg, Jake, Joe, John, Larry, Marshall, Patrick, Rob, Ron, Wayne, and I.   The link for making donations can be found at the Quivira Park Bike Group's Fundraiser Page.  We would certainly appreciate your support as we still have not met our goal as of this post and would like to do so to benefit cancer research.

I have to apologize in advance to our team as things were crowded before, during, and after the ride so I was not able to find everyone to get a group shot or even a small group or individual photo.  I did see everyone except Rob, however, as I ran into Marshall at the SAG in Spring Hill, Larry several times on the course, Wayne at the start, and rode at some time or another with everyone else.  Sorry I did not get pictures of Greg, Jake, Marshall, Patrick, Rob, and Wayne.  The picture to the left is before the ride right after the sun came up.  Pictured from left to right are Carlo, Joe, and John.

It was an absolutely gorgeous day and especially since we had been on another long streak of very hot and humid weather with heat index warnings for the last week - so a welcome relief.  I heard from race organizers that many riders signed up on the day of the race because of the nice weather.  Temperatures were in the low 70's at the start and low 80's at the end with humidity only around 50%.  We had about a 10 MPH wind from the north but had a nice pace line coming back and it was actually refreshing to have a cool wind for a change.  Pictured to the left after the ride are Joe, Larry, and Jon who rides on the Wednesday rides with Larry and me.  Pictured below are Joe, myself, and Ron also after the ride.

The event was very well organized with SAG stops well placed and stocked.  I heard, because of the influx of riders at the last minute, that they ran out of maps but I never even pulled mine out during the ride.  It was helpful to have an overview, however.  Posting on the website in advance of the ride could have prevented this issue. The course was fairly well marked but some of the signs on the turns were missing so that could have been a problem for some of the slower riders.  We were always in site of others so we basically just went with the flow.  I heard some of the signs were stolen.  My only suggestions to improve the ride would be to use paint on the road at all turns and intersections as the Johnson County Bike Club does for their rides.  Additionally it is a real pet peeve of mine that distances are not correct.  I signed up for the 72 mile ride (116 kilometers) and my Garmin only showed 65.28 miles or 105.06 kilometers.  I can't understand why the distance can not be exact especially since I have very accurate distances for the Quivira Park Bike Group rides by just uploading my Garmin.

All in all, however, a wonderful ride and none of it could happen without a great group of volunteers.  There were several and all were very helpful before the ride, at all the SAGs, and at the end with all the food and drink that was provided to riders.  Pictured to the left is Ron who leads the Wednesday ride.  In talking to him he thought the best way to support this important fundraiser was to volunteer and that he did.  He was at registration at the start and assisting the food distribution at the end.  Also a big thanks to my son, Jake and his friend Evan who helped setup tables and with the children's area while riders were out.  Jake is on the left and Evan on the right in the picture below.

The ride started and ended at BikeSource of Kansas City in Overland Park at 135th and Quivira. Race package pick up was also held a the store and they provided a 20% discount on certain items for riders which was very nice.  I purchased some new tires for Jake's bike as part of this program. A map of the 72 Mile Course can be uploaded from my Garmin.  Total distance was just over a 105K and average speed was about 26.1 KPH.

A very special thanks to my sister and brother-in-law, Gretchen and Doug; my parents; fellow cyclists, Steve and Carlo; and high school friend, David for their generous support of my ride and for all those that sponsored other members of the Quivira Park Bike Group. 

Quivira Park Bike Group Ride 14 - August 7, 2010 LifeTrek.Eroe.com

We had a nice ride today for the Quivira Park Bike Group Ride 14 before the heat and heat index warnings came back on Sunday.  Still it was humid with about a 5-8 MPH Southwest wind.  Because of the heat we stopped twice, once in Spring Hill and another in longer stop in Gardner.

We also had a big group with a lot of new riders and unfortunately I could not remember everyone's name as I had not been on a bicycle for two weeks as we took a family vacation to the Cayman Islands for my step daughter's wedding the last week of July and I had some business travel this past week.  Because of my time off I was a took up the tail of the peleton catching up to given directions on the new route. The picture to the left was taken at a convenience store just past the I-35 overpass on Gardner Road and before we hit downtown Gardner.

This photograph was taken by Rob Rhodes, who works for KCTV-5 in Kansas City and one of our regular riders.  I was providing information about the Spring Hill and Gardner Lake Route which we completed today with only a few hiccups.  Instead of heading straight down Ridgeview to 207th the group was ahead of me and instead turned on 199th over to Woodland Road.  The other hiccup was on the south side of Gardner Lake where I should have turned at 162nd Terrace but instead went to 159th and backtracked.  No big problems, however.

This photograph, also by Rob Rhodes while moving from his iPhone, was taken after we turned on to 162nd on the south side of Gardner Lake.  Bob had a flat coming back on on 143rd but I stayed back and we were able to switch it out fairly quickly.  Except for my slower pace and Bob's flat, all in all, a great day.

A map of the ride from my house can be uploaded from my Garmin.  Total distance was just under 80K and average speed was about 26.6 KPH.

Quivira Park Bike Group Ride 13 - July 24, 2010 LifeTrek.Eroe.com

It was a very hot and humid day today for the 13th Quivira Park Bike Group Ride on our Lake Lenexa Route.  We had three SAG stops as all of us were going through water very quickly since the heat index was close to 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

Our first SAG was at the Black Hoof Park at Lake Lenexa in Lenexa, Kansas.  The park has 210 acres with a 35 acre deep water lake called Lake Lenexa and is located on Monticello Road between Prairie Star Parkway and 83rd Street at 9053 Monticello Road.  Besides picnic tables, water, and bathrooms there is a gem of a dam that was build to form Lake Lenexa by capturing storm water.  The dam is a real site to see if you have not done so already.

The picture of the group was taken on top of the dam which is about a mile in from the park entrance.  From left to right are Ed, Marty, Tracey, Greg, Ron, Jim, Bob, Joe, Larry, and Lisa.

This picture was taken at the bottom of the dam and you can see the unique architectural shape.  In fact the dam, designed by Black & Veatch and Gastinger Walker Harden Architects, earned the U.S. Society of Dams 2009 Excellence in the Constructed Project Award.  Additional pictures can be viewed on the Gastinger Walker Harden Architects website.

From the dam and Lake Lenexa we headed to the Charles J. Stump Park which is our usual SAG stop for this route.  Pictured at the left is Jim, Greg, Ron, and Tracey right before we headed back up the hill from the dam to get back on Monticello Road.

From Stump Park we headed up into the Shawnee Mission Park on Ogg Road or what we have named "Oh My Ogg".  This hill off of Midland Drive has about a 16% grade and seems to go on and on.  Because of this climb and again the temperature and humidity we paid a visit to the park headquarters for more water before heading down Renner Road to College Boulevard and back to Quivira Park.

A map of the ride from my house can be uploaded from my Garmin.  Total distance was just over 75K and average speed was about 23 KPH because of the hills and meandering along the trail at Lake Lenexa.

Randy's Ramble "Old Metcalf Place Bridge" - July 20, 2010 LifeTrek.Eroe.com

Randy Rasa and I had a nice ride this afternoon in southern Johnson County.  Randy, as I have said in earlier posts, always has some interesting sites to visit and today was no exception.  The picture to the left is of our bikes on the Old Metcalf Bridge that crosses over the Blue River approximately at 171st on old Metcalf Road which was also old US 69, which is now a divided highway.

There is a website called the Historic Bridges of the United States and the Old Metcalf Bridge is detailed there with pictures and facts.  I have taken some of the facts about the bridge and put them below.

Overview
Five-span pony truss bridge over Blue River on Metcalf Place (formerly US 69) Location Overland Park, Johnson County, Kansas  
Status
Closed to all traffic 
History
Built 1929 
Design
Warren pony truss 
Dimensions
Length of largest span: 69.9 ft. Total length: 358.8 ft. Deck width: 20.0 ft. 
Approximate latitude, longitude 
+38.81296, -94.67094  or 38°48'47" N, 94°40'15" W 
Inspection (as of 02/2008)
Deck condition rating: Serious (3 out of 9) Substructure condition rating: Poor (4 out of 9) Appraisal: Structurally deficient Sufficiency rating: 2.0 (out of 100)

Of course Randy did not tell me about the serious substructure condition rating (a subject that I will have to address with him at a later time) but it seemed fine except that we had to climb over barriers to get on and off the bridge.  The history of the bridge does also not say when exactly it was closed but it did have a very unique design.

The weather was extremely hot and humid and there have been heat warning out for almost a week now.  Temperatures were in the 90's and the heat index was over a 100.  From the bridge we went and re-loaded water and my ice pack (see previous post) at a convenience store in Stilwell, Kansas.

But before we got off the bridge we had to climb over barriers and get through some fairly thick brush which at the time I was hoping did not have poison ivy or oak.  Thankfully it did not on this cycle-cross adventure.  Picture taken by Randy.

While I had biked through Stilwell many times I had not looked up any thing about the city but did find this from Wikipedia.  Stilwell, Kansas is a small unincorporated community in Johnson County in the U.S. state of Kansas.  It is a southern outlying suburb of Kansas City.

Stilwell was named for a conductor on the first Missouri Pacific train to arrive in the community in the 1870s.  Stilwell is mostly farmland, but in recent years has spawned suburban neighborhoods. The Aubry Township Board has stated that by 2010, most of Stilwell will be urban. Note: not true as it is still mostly rural so not sure when that prediction was made by the township board!

Stilwell has low land value and some farms are abandoned; however, in recent years, the large population growth of Overland Park, Kansas has increased the demand for new neighborhoods, raising the land value in some areas to high amounts.

After a nice break inside the convenience store with air conditioning we headed further down Metcalf to 223rd Street and took that over to Woodland Street and then into Spring Hill, Kansas (see previous blog posts).  We had a pretty strong southwest wind but it actually felt great because it helped keep us cool.  After another convenience store stop for more water and ice we discovered that suddenly dark clouds were appearing to the north.  We spoke with a gentleman who was filling up his car at the gas pump when we were getting back on our bikes and he said that there were strong storms coming in so we hightailed back over to Woodland Street and then over to S. Ridgeview Street.  Randy turned off at 183rd Street after offering me shelter at his house and then a head light but I thought I could beat the storm out.  I turned on my red tail light and also a new high intensity red light on the back of my helmet.

I had a nice tail wind and the temperatures were dropping but after going at speeds of 30 - 35 KM per hour and working my way over to S. Lackman Street and then to S. Pflumm Street I heard a crack of lightening and then high winds as I approached the Johnson County Executive Airport.  I knew this would be a good stop to check weather and see if I could wait it out.  I learned from folks inside that the storm was pretty widespread so luckily my wife, Carol, was home and came to pick me up.  We had strong rain and wind driving back to the house and it rained into the evening.  I found out from the news that there was 2-3 inches of rain across the Kansas City metropolitan area with wind gusts up to 70mph.  I had checked the weather radar before I went out for the ride and it looked like no rain and only patches of storms much further to the north.  These summer storms can form fast, however, and this one did just that.

I also found out that a several passengers were injured on United Air Lines Flight 967 from Washington Dulles International Airport to Los Angeles International Airport when they encountered severe turbulence over Kansas City.  The Boeing 777 was diverted to Denver International Airport and landed safely and 30 passengers were injured and transported to local hospitals.  Several articles here:

Passenger describes 'free fall' onboard United jet
Experts trying to determine what caused turbulence
Passengers, drinks tumble in harrowing flight
NTSB investigating diverted Dulles plane
30 Injured on United Airlines Flight in Severe Turbulence
United flight hits heavy turbulence; 30 injured
Turbulence injures several passengers on LAX-bound flight
United Airlines Flight 967 hit severe turbulence over the Midwest, the FAA says - CNN

All in all a very nice ride on a very hot day.  I went 65.45 KM from my house and average overall speed was just over 23 KM per hour.  The map of the ride can be viewed from my Garmin.  For more on Randy's blog go to DirtBum where you will find some very interesting stories on his bicycle rides, which are mostly on back roads and gravel in Eastern Kansas.